iOS UIKit framework coming to macOS in 2019

[Phil]

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/apple-to-let-developers-port-ios-apps-to-mac-starts-with-own-apps-in-macos-mojave

[Phil]

More information here:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/05/ios-app-porting-wont-make-mac-feel-like-iphone-apples-federighi-says

[Phil]

And even more information here, although still kind of non-technical and sketchy:

https://www.wired.com/story/wwdc-2018-federighi-ios-apps-on-macos/

[lainz]

It's like Google with his Android apps on his chromebooks?

I know is not just plug and play, and requires a porting, but looks a bit like that. Seems that good ideas are used even in different companies.

[Phil]

It's like Google with his Android apps on his chromebooks?

I don't know. I supposed installing the beta of Mojave would be one way of finding out what's there. As I understand it, there's a new system folder with iOS support frameworks like UIKit. Actually, UIKit has always been available on Mac for developers since it's used to test iOS apps in the Xcode Simulator (for example, if you don't have a particular iOS device to test). But the UIKit included with the Xcode SDK is just the _iOS_ UIKit compiled for x64. I would imagine we're talking here an enhanced UIKit for both iOS and macOS that can accommodate the UI and platform differences between them.

[VTwin]

Interesting. I use an iBook and iPhone extensively. I find the iBook useful for certain things, but I hate it for running applications that I need to get work done with. Curious to see what they come up with.

[Phil]

Interesting. I use an iBook and iPhone extensively. I find the iBook useful for certain things, but I hate it for running applications that I need to get work done with. Curious to see what they come up with.

If you install the Mojave beta on your macOS system, you can test 4 of Apple's apps that have been ported from iOS and will be part of the next Mojave release.

I assume you mean "iPad"?

[VTwin]

If you install the Mojave beta on your macOS system, you can test 4 of Apple's apps that have been ported from iOS and will be part of the next Mojave release.

I assume you mean "iPad"?

It does sound interesting, but I'm unlikely to try. I still have El Capitan installed, I'm conservative in upgrading. It always seems that upgrades end up as time sinks. 

Yes, iPad! Tired I guess, or just getting old.

[Phil]

It does sound interesting, but I'm unlikely to try. I still have El Capitan installed, I'm conservative in upgrading. It always seems that upgrades end up as time sinks. 

Yes, I have El Capitan on my Late 2008 MacBook and it's fine, but it's important to at least test apps on the current release. Obviously if you're doing Xcode, that's generally only supported on the current release of macOS and the previous release, so currently that would be High Sierra and Sierra. In the autumn when Mojave is released, that will shift to the latest Xcode only being available for Mojave and High Sierra.

In general, I've never had much problem upgrading or with compatibility, but things do change, often things that Apple does to try to make things more secure. For example, the introduction of System Integrity Protection (SIP) in El Capitan might have tripped someone up if they had never tested on El Cap.

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Security/Conceptual/System_Integrity_Protection_Guide/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40016462-CH1-DontLinkElementID_15